Drive an SUV? Get ready to pay more to park

The rules of airline seats are hitting parking lots: Consumers who take up too much space are being charged more. Some SUV drivers are even denied entry completely.

Especially in big cities with limited space, consumers often have to pay more to park when they get behind the wheel of a truck or SUV. In Manhattan, many ICON (the brand has over 200 garages) and Central (around 200 also) parking garages routinely charge $10 or $15 extra a day for SUVs and oversize vehicles. In San Francisco, garages now routinely charge $10 or more for SUVs — we found a few that charged an extra $30 or more a day — and in Boston, we found some garages that cost an extra $40 a day for SUVs.

Hotels and airport parking lots are also getting in on the gouge-the-SUV game. At the Hyatt Regency in Washington, D.C., vans and oversize vehicles must pay $55 a night for valet parking, while others pay $48; at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco, drivers will pay $25 more per night to valet park their large cars than they would if they’d arrived in a smaller auto; and at the Crowne Plaza Times Square in Manhattan, drivers will pay $56 a day for SUVs and large vehicles vs. $46 for smaller ones. At Fox Auto Parks, a parking lot for the Los Angeles International Airport, compact and medium trucks, SUVs and minivans face a $1 a day surcharge, and full and oversize SUVs, trucks and vans, a $2 a day surcharge; at New York City’s Airpark La Guardia, there’s an SUV and van surcharge of $3 a day.

What’s more, we can expect the trend of paying more to park a larger car to grow, says Elise Fox, the PR manager for parking app SpotHero. “This is an industry where if one company starts offering it at a different price, others will follow,” says Margot Tohn, the CEO of Park It Guides, a resource for parking in New York City.

Experts say that some garages and hotels are doing this because of space concerns. “Larger vehicles take up more space — space that could be used for more vehicles,” explains Fox. The SUV surcharge is especially prevalent when a valet parks your car, like many do in city garages and hotels, as the valets “squeeze in as many cars as they can,” explains Tohn; since your SUV takes up more room in the lot, they can’t get in as many cars and thus charge you more to compensate.

But William Maloney, the founder of travel fee site Feezing.com, says that it’s not always about space. “It’s another way to nickel and dime customers and make a few extra bucks,” he says. “Most SUVs fit in pretty much the same parking space.” And he says in some areas, like California, charging more for items deemed environmentally unfriendly has become socially acceptable, so consumers don’t balk as much at them. “They already charge for shopping bags at a lot of stores in San Francisco,” he says.

What’s more, some garages go one step further and deny entry to SUVs and other large cars. Some Colonial Parking garages in Washington, D.C., and some ICON garages in New York City don’t accept some SUVs and oversized vehicles. And some garages in bigger markets give a discount to smart cars, says Fox — a trend she says may continue to grow.

To be sure, most parking lots and garages still don’t charge extra for larger vehicles. And the definition of an SUV or oversize vehicle varies from lot to lot, so not all people driving what they consider an SUV or van will be overcharged in all cases.

Still, these fees can add up. If you park your SUV once a week and have to pay a $15 premium each time you do, you’d end up spending $780 more a year than a person parking a small car. That said, there are ways to save, even if you can’t find free street parking. Apps like SpotHero (parking garage chains also often have their own apps), BestParking and ParkMe can help drivers identify parking garages and their rates, so they can pick the cheapest locale. Plus, it’s often cheaper to park in the evenings (and sometimes on weekends, if you’re in a business district) even if you have an SUV or large auto.

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